Can stress cause cancer?

Most of us go through some sort of short-term stress at one point in our lives. Acute or short-term stress generally subsides as soon as the event passes. During this type of stress, our body reacts with a fight-or-flight response and releases endorphins designed to help us flee or take action.

Sometimes, short-term stress can have protective and beneficial effects. When we’re stressed, our muscles tense up. This is our body’s way of guarding against injury and pain.

On the other hand, long-term or chronic stress happens when the biological stress response is activated for months or years. This type of stress is more damaging to our health.

With chronic stress, your body has to work even harder when it’s at rest to keep you functioning normally. You may notice your body showing other signs like an increase in resting heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate.

People who suffer from a significant amount of stress for a prolonged period may develop serious health problems. Chronic stress has been associated with increased susceptibility to some types of infection and worsening of conditions like depression and heart disease.

Researchers have conducted many studies to determine if there is a link between stress and cancer. Though stress promotes the growth and spread of some forms of the disease, the evidence that psychological stress can cause cancer is weak — though there is a flip side.

Some experts say stress makes your body more hospitable to cancer. Chronic stress has been shown to inhibit protective immune responses and enhance harmful immune responses, which in turn may accelerate cancer progression.

Also, people under a lot of stress may find themselves developing certain behaviors, such as smoking, overeating or drinking alcohol, which can indirectly increase their risk of developing cancer.